Show them how it's done

I am a woman. That's a fact, at least when I last looked. And in our day and age, we women are supposed to strive to do our best in our chosen careers and make sure we get equal work opportunities in issues such as pay and promotions. Sure, okay. I like that.\nBut that accounts for men as well. I recently stumbled across a most amusing situation where guys (as in men) appeared to be wallowing in hypersensitivity. It was an interesting case of over-compensation concerning sexism as far as I've seen. I even took into consideration that women have outnumbered men on U.S. college and university campuses since 1978, so a little concern and touchiness is quite understandable. \nSo time for a little sleuthing: What does this reverse sexism entail? I found an ad depicting a stiletto-heeled woman walking two naked, crouching men on dog leashes in some ultra feminist role selling Australian pantyhose. I wholly agree that such an example, which had the roles been reversed, would totally result in outcry. And in this case, there was some concern about the content. Some concern, that's right. The ad was regarded as tolerable because it "represented a satirical comment on a patriarchal world!" Hmmm … touchiness is understandable. I dug further and searched for some facts concerning who owns what these days. The U.S. Census Bureau stated that of the Indiana population, 51 percent were women (1997 census) and that 87.5 percent were classified as non-ethnic or white(see U.S. Census Bureau for a clarification of definitions used). And from this population, 25.9 percent of businesses were owned by women and 5.5 percent by 'minorities' (a reasonable under-representation of the 14.6 percent of the minority-owned firms in the entire United States). It seems that (white) men are doing very well as business owners! With these numbers imprinted in my brain, for me to keep consideration and show a little bit of sensitivity with regard to reverse sexism is a little overdone. \nIt's not about having extra rights if you're a woman. It's not about men having the right to cry out against reverse sexism with regard to not being persecuted for the fact that they are by chance Caucasian males. It's about your own personal skills and qualities. Like I can whip up a mean dish, and I'm proud of that. Yep, generations of all those Cuisenaire women in my family preceding me have left some remnants of cuisine nimbleness in my genes. But to be honest, it's not about how deftly I can whip that frozen dinner from freezer to microwave, it's about how well I can get the job done in my chosen profession upon obtaining my degree. \nI'm over the feminist thing. Better said, I never was a feminist. I don't have much affiliation to this word purely because of the ease that in this day and age girls can get out into the workforce and just strut their stuff. \nIf you're good, then I'm sure you're great. There is nothing now which should hold back any person, regardless of sex, from vying for the best place. And if you just don't make the cut, don't come crying that it's owing to your status as a man/woman in the world. Just get out there and do a better job.\nElbows sharpened and claws protracted, after eradicating the competition, it is one's own talent and ability that will nourish the extent of one's success in life.